Symbols Never Die
by sunofdarkchild
Summary: One-shot. While Bruce is held captive in Bane's prison, Batgirl and Oracle take up the fight in Gotham.


_Dear Diary,_

 _It's been 2 weeks since Bane and his army took over Gotham. Marshall law is in full effect. But even worse than that, when Bane broke open Blackgate Prison, he also tore down the heroes Gotham would have looked to for inspiration. Harvey Dent turns out to be a murdering psychopath, and Commissioner Gordon turns out to be a liar. The commish's' wife over in Cleveland confirmed every word of Bane's speech, so we know it's all true. People don't know what to believe in anymore, so no one is able to make any sort of resistance against Bane.  
But, do you know something, dear diary? People are stupid. They don't realize that when Bane tore down Dent and Gordon, he inadvertently raised another symbol from the mud, a symbol Gotham could rally around if we'd just get our heads out of said mud. A symbol that today, we're going to remind everyone of.  
_  
 _Long live the resistance, dear diary!_

-

Helplessness.

It was not a feeling Bruce Wayne was used to. He was a man of action, of power. Every person in America knew his name twice.

And no one knew where he was now. Left for dead in a hell on earth, held upright in a harness that another prisoner insisted would strengthen his injured back, he could not turn away from the monitors displaying the depths into which his city was sinking.

The feed was the news from America, broadcasting live from New Jersey, just across the river from Gotham. And every day it was the same. Bane was in control of his city. The government was helpless to do anything about it. And the people of Gotham were too demoralized to resist.

"We have a breaking development in the ongoing situation in Gotham City." the news anchor said. Bruce did not react. It would be the same. A new attack on the upper classes of Gotham by Bane, or another speech in which the man who was supposedly the leader of the free world said absolutely nothing.

"Our studio has received a video from a source inside Gotham, a source that identifies itself only as Oracle. This is the first message from the city since the coup that has not come from Bane or his people." Bruce said nothing, but his eyes became more attentive. "We have been unable to trace the exact origin of this video, which we believe is all the more reason to share it."

The screen changed as the video began to play. A single image, a blue outline of a face, was all that was displayed.

"We are the citizens of Gotham." an electronically altered voice said.

"Several weeks ago, our great city was attacked and taken over by terrorists. Our mayor was murdered and our entire police force imprisoned underground. Many good people have been murdered and we have all become prisoners in our own city, hostages to Bane's crusade.

"Bane has tried to break our spirit by destroying our faith. But we, the people of Gotham, are stronger than he realized. We do not need to worship Harvey Dent, as our once honored police commissioner thought, to know right from wrong, or to act.

"Today, the people of Gotham strike back. We will not be cowed by an army of thugs or by a nuclear weapon. We will resist you, Bane, with our dying breaths. We will take back our city and make it a good pace for decent people to live once again.

"Watch for our symbol at exactly 8:00 tonight."

-

In an abandoned house is Gotham, John Blake turned his attention from the television to the man sitting next to him.

"Pretty brave, huh, commissioner?"

"Yes." James Gordon agreed.

"And they don't seem to have been too badly shaken by the Dent thing. Maybe you should have had more faith in Gotham." Blake did not try to hide the criticism in his voice.

"That remains to be seen." Gordon scoffed. "For all we know this is just a kid with a computer and too much time on his hands. We'll find out at eight, I guess. Still…"

"What is it, commissioner?"

Gordon rubbed his chin. "That last bit, about a symbol. He said almost the exact same thing to me when I first met him."

-

"We return to our top story." the anchor said. "The occupation of Gotham. With 8:00 only minutes away we are all anxious to see if this Oracle can make good on its claims."

"You seem tense." Bruce's cellmate observed. "It's not good to fidget like that. You need to stand straight if you want your back to be fixed."

Bruce spared him a look, then turned back to the monitor.

"Bane said he wanted to give Gotham hope and then crush it, like he's doing to me. Now we see if he can live up to his word."

"And if it is just one man, what difference can he make?"

"All it takes is one to inspire others."

"We are getting word that something is happening!" the anchor exclaimed. "This is a live image from above the Hudson River!"

The screen showed the Gotham skyline as seen from New Jersey at night. There were far fewer lights on than there had been before Bane's takeover, as nearly all of the major businesses were closed.

The camera moved up over the river, centering on a signal lit in the night sky. Bruce's eyes widened and his mouth dropped as he saw the symbol Oracle had adopted.

A searchlight showed against the clouds above the Hudson River. A searchlight with a black bat in its center. An oval shaped bat.

"Oh my god." The announcer said. "This is-hold on. It seems we are receiving another message from Oracle, one they are demanding we air immediately. Give us a moment."  
Again, the blue face appeared.

"Bane, we know you are watching, and we know you would love to take down that searchlight. Bring it on. You may have men all over Gotham, but our symbol will shine over Gotham for a full half hour before you will be able to touch it. This is our rallying cry to all the people of Gotham. Rise up and take back your home from the monsters who would destroy everything Gotham, no, this entire country, stands for. This city is not beyond saving. Over the next half hour we will prove that we have conquered the Gotham skies. It is only a matter of time before we retake the streets as well.

"Your move, Bane."

"There you have it." the anchor said. "Oracle has taken on the bat as its symbol, a clear reference to the legendary Batman that stalked the streets of Gotham a decade ago. This is sure to spur speculation that Oracle is the Batman. I'm getting word that we have traced the beam of light to its source." The camera again cut to the Gotham skyline. "It is a five story building on the river. If we can just get our camera focused on it…there. You can see the searchlight on the roof, obviously modified to have a bat on it. It should be noted that that this bat symbol is different from the one used in the famous 'bat-signal' that used to shine above Gotham. This is a rounder image. Holy!"

The news camera had finally zoomed in as far as it could go, and a figure was coming into view, standing in front of the searchlight. A silhouette in black.

"That's a guy in a bat costume! Ears and cape and everything! You can see it moving in the wind! I repeat: someone dressed as a bat is defending Oracle's signal! Bane has to respond to this!"

-

"Do you think it's him?" Blake asked.

"I don't know." Gordon said. "If it is we have hope again. If it isn't…"

"We still have hope." Gordon looked at Blake, slightly perplexed.

"Wasn't that the point? That anyone could be Batman?"

Gordon nodded and turned back to the television.

-

Six men worked their way up the fire escape. They moved silently, as members of the League of Shadows should, even though they knew it would not help them.  
The initial attempt to reach the roof was through the building itself. They found the doors to the building barricaded beyond the possibility of entry without explosives. And while they all were armed with semi-automatics, they were merely a patrol group reassigned at the moment due to their proximity to their new target and did not carry any kind of explosives.

And they could not have imagined that the person they were supposed to kill would be too bored to remain standing in front of the searchlight.

"Here we go!"

They were at the fourth floor when they heard the yell and looked up, their minds not fully comprehending the implications of the sound. The one in front was hit by a flying kick from above and knocked down the stairs into his comrades.

"Twenty minutes!" the figure exclaimed. "It took almost twenty minutes just for you guys to start coming up the fire escape! Is Bane really that short on manpower?"

Bane's men began to shake off the initial hit and took their first good look at their foe's slim figure and hair flowing in the wind.

"A girl!?"

"A girl who's about to kick your asses!"

The first goon pointed his gun at her, but the girl in the bat costume grabbed his arm and twisted it into the metal railing. He let go of his weapon and it fell to the ground.

"Your numbers and guns don't do much good in such close quarters on a fire escape." she said, pushing the man into his friends again, knocking them down the next flight of stairs "And we're on the side of the building facing the other shore, so the whole world can watch your embarrassment on the evening news live."

Another man came forward with his gun pointed at her, and she grabbed the railings on either side of her and flipped herself around, kicking the gun out of his hands in the process. She crouched low as she landed to avoid the tackle he attempted and pushed up as he came on top of her, causing him to lose control of his momentum and fall to the floor behind her. "You guys should wave. You might never get a chance to say 'Hi, Mommy!' on national television again!"

Selina Kyle sighed as she watched the fight unfold on a nice plasma tv she took from some rich guy's apartment.

"You think this means you can defy Bane? He'll brake you too."

-

While she was concentrating on the five opponents in front of her, the disarmed one behind her managed to get her in a headlock. Fortunately for her, the first one to take advantage was also someone she had already disarmed. He punched her in the face twice before kneeing her in the stomach.

Her arms were so busy trying to free her that she had forgotten that she could still fight with her legs until receiving that knee. She kicked up as hard as she could, connecting with the man's chin and knocking him back again. With her front momentarily clear, she was able to concentrate fully on the man holding her from behind. Several hits to the gut from both of her elbows caused him to let go.

She spun around, swinging her arm in a roundhouse right as she did so. Her fist connected with his eye and he collapsed again, this time into unconsciousness.

The remaining five attackers moved in on her again, this time with one of the ones who was still armed at the front. She leapt at them, and all of the combatants were in such close proximity that they were all knocked over the railing and fell to the pavement below.

The fight had taken them far enough down the fire escape that the fall was not fatal, but the only one to avoid either being knocked out or suffering broken bones was the girl in the bat-suit, as she had three men to brake her fall. That did not mean, however, that she emerged unscathed.

"Owww." she moaned, sitting up. "Not my best idea, falling off the building. Nope, nope, nope."

One man was still conscious and able to move, and he was slowly crawling to the nearest gun. He was three feet away when a boot clamped down on his wrist.  
"Boy, you guys just don't know when to quit."

She kicked the gun away and lifted the man's head up slightly by his hair.

He spat blood in her face.

"Ew." she complained. "That's disgusting."

"I'll die before I talk, you bitch!"

"Yeah, and I can tell that you're a wonderful conversationalist, with your one syllable vocabulary." She leaned close to his face. "I don't want you to talk to me. I want you to talk to the big man. Tell him that there's still a bat in Gotham. There will always be a bat in Gotham."

-

Bane, too, was watching the evening news. He heard the enthusiastic reaction of the anchor as the figure in the bat costume reappeared on the roof, scalloped cape held out in triumph. Cheers could be heard erupting from the street.

"This is a problem." one of his followers said behind him.

Bane turned his head slightly. "Only if we allow it to become so." he said in his usual calm, almost amused manner. "Or do you doubt that I can brake this pretender even more easily than I broke the real Batman?"

"I do not doubt you at all." the man insisted. "In fact I think this matter beneath you."

"Perhaps. The question is, who are the allies of this new bat?"

-

The red headed woman heard the door open and a groan of pain. She finally pulled away from her computer, steering her wheelchair to the front of the apartment.

"The signal stayed on for forty two minutes before the second group arrived and smashed it."

"So is that a 'good job,' Babs?"

The blonde girl walked past Barbara, threw her backpack on the floor, and collapsed face first onto the couch. "You could have asked if I'm ok. I was risking my life, you know."

"Are you ok?"

The blonde girl rolled over. "I'll live, but I'll be really sore for a while."

"Is this where I ask about seeing the other guy?"

"You know what, Babs? The whole concerned mother act really doesn't work for you."

"Fine. When you're up to it, check out what's happening on the internet. Oracle's become the biggest thing since Batman himself over the last hour and a half."

"In th-yawwwn-in the morning."

"All right." Barbara began to wheel off to her room, but she turned back.

"You did a good job, Stephanie."

There was no thank you response, so Barbara turned her wheelchair around completely.

"Steph?"

But her roommate had already fallen asleep.

Barabara smiled. "Poor kid. You better get a good night's rest. It only gets harder from here."


End file.
